Stupid Flower
by Designed To Kill
Summary: Younger!Tyzula - At least fire could be useful.


Azula was frowning more deeply than she'd ever been seen doing so before, and her grip was knuckle-white. Ty Lee pursed her lips at this, confusion evident.

Suddenly the bouquet of flowers that Azula held so tightly to thrust forward, nearly colliding with Ty Lee's chest. Azula's expression further darkened as Ty Lee began to laugh. "They're for you!" she spat, and Ty Lee regained her composure well enough to take them, smiling brightly at Azula.

"It's so funny when you're actually flustered!" she said, and then held the flowers up to her face, sniffing lightly. "But thank you," she whispered, "they smell nice."

"They'd better," Azula replied, crossing her arms, "they were a lot, just for stupid plants. Why do you like flowers so much?"

"They're pretty, and they smell nice~" Ty Lee swooned, "and their auras are so gentle!" Azula quickly scoffed at that loudly, glaring at the flowers as if they'd done her wrong.

"Fire looks and smells better," she said proudly.

"Oh, Azula! You just say that because it's all you ever think about," Ty Lee giggled.

"That's not true!" Azula immediately argued, cocking her hip.

"Then what do you think about?" Ty Lee asked curiously. Azula huffed and glanced away, spying Zuko and Mai off on the other side of the courtyard. Probably talking about something stupid or irrelevant.

"About how my brother's stupid," she said, "and that I should have been born first. He's going to ruin the country."

"Azula~" Ty Lee sing-song'ed her name knowingly, "that has to do with the _Fire _Nation. So it doesn't count."

"That's stupid! A play on words doesn't count," Azula loomed toward Ty Lee as she glared. Ty Lee just leaned forward as well, catching Azula off-guard in a hug. Azula sputtered and quickly pushed Ty Lee off of her. Ty Lee laughed as she backed off, hands clasping behind her back as she rocked along her heels.

"Where's the flowers I-" Azula glanced behind her to find that Ty Lee had covertly slipped the bouquet behind the back of her belt. She ripped them out and shoved them back at the acrobat. "These are yours. I don't want them! They're all... pink."

Ty Lee giggled as she took the flowers again, taking one of the pink blossoms and leaning into Azula again. The princess leaned back, but not before Ty Lee had placed the flower behind her ear. "At least that? It looks so nice on you!"

Azula glowered as she reached up and fingered the petals. She shook her head, but then shrugged her shoulders. "For now. But I'm burning it later."

"That's fine!" Ty Lee agreed without a missed beat. "So, you never answered! What do you think of, besides fire... and the Fire Nation?"

"That doesn't count! What I said is good enough," Azula said, and gritted her teeth for a short moment. "Well, how about how stupid this flower is?" she jabbed a finger at it.

"You said you'd burn it later," Ty Lee replied, leaning forward and waggling her finger, "so how do I know you're not just thinking about it on fire?"

Azula turned her head away again, scanning the courtyard. "What about..." she paused her sweeping gaze on the pond, "the turtleducks?"

"You shoot fire at them to scare them," Ty Lee sighed, shaking her head.

"Ugh!" Azula growled, stomping her foot, and Ty Lee nimbly stepped back from the short radius of flame released, "This is dumb, I don't have to prove myself to you!"

"I'm sorry," Ty Lee quickly said, holding her bouquet up as she smiled softly. Azula huffed one more time, crossing her arms.

"Fine. I don't think about anything but fire... and the Fire Nation. What does it matter? That's all I have to think about."

"It's more fun to think about lots of things!" Ty Lee exclaimed with a flourishing twirl. Azula rolled her eyes.

"What do you think about, then?"

"I think about auras, and dancing, and acting, and the circus, and flowers, and also about you and Mai and even Zuko sometimes!" she said with another swoon.

"Zuko?" Azula spat in disbelief, "Why would you think about him?" she crossed her arms tighter and glanced down to the floor with a truly dark glare.

"Huh? I said only sometimes," Ty Lee mumbled, tilting her head, "I didn't mean it. You're my best friend, not him. Besides, he's Mai's boyfriend, and she's my friend too, and yours, right?" Both girls looked over to where Zuko and Mai had been, only to find they had wandered off elsewhere.

"I don't know," Azula said dismissively, "she has more fun with him than she does us."

"Nuh uh," Ty Lee said softly with a shake of her head, "it's just different kinds of fun."

"And how would you know?" Azula grumbled.

"My sisters told me when they started getting boyfriends..."

"Sure," Azula sighed, and started to turn away. Ty Lee immediately jumped forward, latching onto the princess' shoulders.

"Wait! It's true! What's wrong?" Ty Lee pleaded, only for Azula to shrug her off violently.

"I'm going to go train!" Azula grumbled, shoulders tense as she stormed off.

She pulled open the doors to the stark training room, only to find Zuko there. She scowled and marched towards him, intent on claiming the room for herself. It was rare that she felt like sharing anything with her older brother, and today wasn't one of those days.

He turned and for a moment it looked as if he would slink away as usual. Then, suddenly, his posture straightened again as he smirked at Azula. She glared at him, expression masking her surprise.

"Nice flower," he joked, pointing at her ear. Azula reached up and her glare darkened as her fingers encountered soft petals. They stared at each other, Zuko smirking mockingly. Then suddenly with her other hand Azula swung toward Zuko, unleashing a large fireball.

Zuko barely stumbled out of the way, and then scrambled toward the door. Azula's leg swung around after him with a fiery blast, and he quickly slammed the door behind him as he dived out. She smirked, and then removed the flower from her hair, smirk failing just as quickly as she looked at it in her palm.

She turned her hand and held it in one hand loosely between thumb and forefinger; then brought her other hand up underneath it and paused. After a long while stuck between her choices, she turned and went toward the doors herself, pushing one open as she held the flower tightly.

As she turned to head down the hall, a sudden weight on her back nearly unbalanced her. "You didn't burn it!" Ty Lee said joyously. Azula grunted and shook her off, turning to her.

"I was going to!"

"You could have in there," Ty Lee said with a bright smile, and leaned forward to pull Azula into yet another hug. Azula sighed and started to pull away, before she went statue stiff as Ty Lee pecked her on the cheek. "Thanks!"

"Don't do that!" Azula roared, pushing Ty Lee back violently. Ty Lee even stumbled a bit, but caught her balance with an instinctual back flip. "I was going to burn the dumb flower in my room!" she yelled. Ty Lee bit her lip and slumped away from Azula a bit, smile faltering.  
Azula shook her head, and then turned and quickly headed for her room, refusing to look back. Even then, she heard Ty Lee timidly mutter "You're so mean sometimes," just as she turned the corner.

She paused, refused to look back again, and then ducked into her bedroom. In her haste, she tore a few strands of hair out with the flower, and glared at it as soon as she noticed. "You made me mess up my hair," she said darkly, and then turned and threw the flower at her dresser, frowning when it settled on the top, unharmed for the most part.

"Whatever. You're not worth my time and energy to burn. I don't even know why I let her put you in my hair. You're so ugly and stupid!" she screamed at it, before she threw herself bodily into her bed, tossing around until she could pull the covers over herself. Then she turned away from it purposely and squeezed her eyes shut.

"You ruined today for me, stupid flower. Now Ty Lee hates me and Zuko actually made fun of me. Now she'll probably go play with him since they both hate me now. Stupid flower."


End file.
